Bangladesh will build 2,000 new cyclone centers in the 15 coastal districts this year following the deadly cyclone Sidr on Nov. 15, 2007, local newspaper The Financial Express reported Tuesday.

Food and Disaster Management Secretary Mohammad Ayub Miah of the Bangladesh caretaker government said this while inaugurating a workshop on “Cyclone Sidr 2007: Early Recovery” here Monday. He said the new cyclone centers will be built as part of the government’s disaster preparedness.

A sub-committee for setting up the cyclone centers has been formed to submit a report within this month on how the cyclone centers could be made sustainable, he said.

The cyclone Sidr, one of the fiercest cyclones that hit Bangladesh in last 131 years, battered the country’s southern and southwestern coastal area on Nov. 15, 2007, leaving thousands people dead and about 8 million affected. The cyclone caused about 2.3 billion U.S. dollars economic loss.